Modern homes for modern wines

New South Tyrolean cellar architecture

June 2016
There is plenty new to be found in South Tyrol’s wine cellars! On the one hand the last ten years have seen historic buildings fully refurbished and fitted with the latest technology; while highly motivated winemakers and audacious wine merchants have also been increasingly turning to creative architects to develop joint and up-to-date visions of the new wine houses. While in the past wineries would nestle snugly in the traditional farming landscape, the new South Tyrolean cellar architecture sometimes seems more like some “alien” that has fallen from the sky. Strident, emphatically noticeable, uncompromisingly modern – and for just these reasons highly successful and popular with an amazed public. Verdict: certainly worth a visit.

The new building of the Tramin wine cellar, designed by star architect Werner Tscholl, recalls an impressive grapevine: “… a vine growing out of the ground of the delivery yard, giving the building a new shell, as it were twining around it, to create a sculptural ensemble that opens up to the visitor and acts not just as an emblem identifying the wine cellar to all those passing by or visiting, but also marks the entrance to the village of Tramin. The existing wine cellar building is used as a reception area, so to speak embodying tradition and thus becoming the “heart” of the entire new complex.

The new building of the Nals-Margreid/Entiklar wine cellar was also designed to create a modern architectural symbol, visible from afar. Architect Markus Scherer produced an apparently free-floating porphyry roof, which appears like an elegant hat, as the connecting element between the old and the new wine cellar building. He explains: “Looking out from the inner courtyard you can see the tower of the wine press through a glass façade, which is where the wine production process begins. Another architectural highlight of the inner courtyard is the barrique cellar, where the wine matures in oak barrels. The additional volume, made of oak wood, resembles a walk-in wine crate in the covered inner courtyard.”

A harmonious interaction of impressive technology, fascinating design and a welcoming atmosphere distinguishes the Manincor wine cellar at Kaltern, with the new building, apart from its gaping entrance, completely concealed underground: a sophisticated achievement by renowned architects Walter Angonese, Rainer Köberl and Silvia Boday, who have together developed a structure that is scarcely visible from the outside but extends over three floors deep into the hillside. In the words of Gabriele Kaiser: “The covering of the underground winery and the replanting of the hill with grapevines not only re-established the cultivated landscape, but also ensured a stable, sufficiently humid cellar climate – to the advantage of the wine.”

After decades of quietly “just making wine”, South Tyrol’s new wineries, popular and important partners of the Vinum Hotels of South Tyrol, are grabbing the attention as South Tyrol’s wine trade adopts a high-visibility approach. Modern homes for modern wines.

The VINUM-Hotel wine bulletin for July:

“Spatium Pinot Blanc!” – major international Weissburgunder symposium in Eppan
Centre stage for Pinot Blanc/Weissburgunder, South Tyrol’s leading white wine! Renowned wine experts from Italy, Germany, France and Switzerland will be discussing the outlook for this unique white wine at the “Spatium Pinot Blanc” symposium. Guided tastings of rarities, receptions in Eppan’s wine cellars and a Pinot Blanc Wine Party complete the extraordinary programme – with the Vinum Hotels of South Tyrol as cooperation partners for this international Pinot Blanc symposium.